A Dog's Gospel

Matthew 15 records our Lord’s first trip outside of Judea with his disciples into the region of Samaria. This was not friendly territory. Jews hated Samaritans and considered them half-breeds since their family tree had roots both inside and outside of Abraham.

As they traveled, a Canaanite woman came out to meet Jesus, crying to him: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

When Jesus did not answer her, the disciples urged him to shoo her away because she was making a scene. Ignoring the woman and apparently seeing her nearby, Jesus told the disciples that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, (meaning the Gospel is not for her -- yet).

Undeterred, the woman drew closer to Jesus and worshiped him. Can you see her? Arms outstretched and face in the dirt, she’s asking again, “Lord, help me.”

All the odds were against her. Certainly, her Gentile race was against her. Her gender was against her, for most Jewish rabbis paid little attention to women. The disciples seemed to be against her. Even Christ’s words sounded discouraging. Yet, she persisted.

Consider the woman’s faith. How did she know Jesus was in the area unless she’d heard it? And when she cried out to Jesus, she called him Lord – a term of humble honor. She also called him “Son of David,” which acknowledged Jesus as Messiah.

The woman had the Lord’s full attention from the first, but when he finally answered, he said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

Jews were in the habit of calling Samaritans dogs as a crude reference to a dog’s indiscriminate mating habits. But Jesus didn’t call her a dog; rather, he referred to a little dog (as the Greek confirms), which would be a puppy or family pet.

This is why she so wisely and quickly answered that the little dogs could eat crumbs from their owner’s table. She was not asking for the whole Happy Meal, she just wanted a French fry, one little French fry. The gravity of her answer was yet another example of her faith and an acknowledgement that only a little faith can garner all the Lord’s blessings.

“Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

Dear Jesus: Please grant me the tenacity to pursue your blessings with the same fervency of this compassionate mother. Guide me to ask not for myself but on behalf of others. Amen.